


Blacklight

by aretia



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Drabbles, Fluff, M/M, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-04
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2018-11-08 17:40:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 11,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11086626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aretia/pseuds/aretia
Summary: A collection of my Thulaz prompt one-shots from Tumblr.





	1. For Science

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt from allthelettersandlights: “Listen, it’s for science.” and/or “Please stop calling it your lair.” with Thulaz for the prompt thing if you wanna :3c

“Why do I have to wear this thing?” Thace asked, pointing to the colander-like apparatus on his head.

“Listen, it’s for science,” Ulaz replied. That was the closest thing to an answer Thace had managed to get since his friend had dragged him into his lab and attached half a dozen devices to him, none of which hurt, but all of which were slightly uncomfortable and overwhelmingly bizarre. “Besides, you were the one who came to visit me in my lair, so you knew what you were getting yourself into.”

“I was just making my rounds. I really need to get back to work before someone notices I’m gone,” Thace sighed tiredly. “And please stop calling it your lair.”

“This will only take a second,” Ulaz insisted. Holding his tablet in one hand, he leaned over Thace and adjusted a tiny dial on the side of the helmet, fingers brushing against Thace’s temple as he did so. Thace shivered. If it was for science, why did he have to be so damn close? Thace’s thoughts abruptly turned to chaos and panic bells when Ulaz pressed his cheek against his, peering up into the gap between his head and the helmet. “Just making sure the electrodes are lined up right… and…” The tablet pinged, and Ulaz straightened and looked at it. “I got a reading!” Ulaz’s ears perked up, and his lips flashed a rare smile.

Whatever surge of neurotransmitters the helmet had picked up on, Thace hoped the device wasn’t sophisticated enough to tell Ulaz that it was entirely Ulaz’s fault for invading his personal space. And his fault for being so adorable when he lit up about something.


	2. Something To Live For

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from an-asexual-in-glasgow: OOOHHHH are you doing prompts? I love your writing! If you still wanna, could you maybe do “Okay, I got a pla- oh.“ for Thulaz? <3 u

Galra would sacrifice themselves without hesitation. It was in their blood. Humans were an entirely different entity; they seemed to care about individual lives, even though that was no way to go about fighting a war. So when the paladins refused to let Ulaz sacrifice himself to save them, won against all odds, and took him aboard their ship instead, it felt like the rules of the universe had been altered. It felt like they actually had a chance. And when the paladins also rescued his beloved Thace, it felt like he finally had something to live for, more than something to die for.

But today, it felt like all hope was lost. The Galra had captured all the lions of Voltron. Their only setback was that the lions were so bonded to their paladins that they wouldn’t open for anyone else. The lions’ strategic position in the center of the Galra mothership was such that if the paladins could activate their lions and attack from the inside, it would devastate the Galra forces. But that would require getting them inside the highly armed fortress. Only Thace knew his way around the ship well enough to open a pathway for them. So here Ulaz was, standing in a tight corner with Thace, not that he was in any position to enjoy that. 

“This is too dangerous,” Ulaz whispered.

Thace cocked his head at his partner. “When have you ever said a thing like that? We don’t have a choice–”

“I know that,” Ulaz hissed. “Just… I’ve come so close to losing you, so many times. I don’t want to lose you again.”

Thace took Ulaz’s hand and pulled him even closer in the small space. “You won’t,” Thace said. He touched his forehead to Ulaz’s. Even through their Marmora masks, the slight warmth was comforting. “Tomorrow, when we’re lying next to each other, you won’t have to worry about any of this.”

Thace scanned the room that lay in front of them, the control room they needed to access on the other side, and the scores of sentries in between. “Okay, I got a pla- oh.” Thace’s eyes fell on the security drone floating right in front of them. He heard the sentries’ feet already marching toward their hiding place.

“Change of plans,” Thace whispered, squeezing Ulaz’s hand. He held up a silent countdown with his fingers, and the two of them charged out into the fray. Thace went first, taking down the hover drone and one of the sentries with his blade, and commandeered its blaster. He kept the sentries at their distance from him using his blade while he fired the blaster into the crowd to clear a path for Ulaz to sprint to the other side, cutting down sentries left and right with his own blade.

Tomorrow, they would lie next to each other. It didn’t matter to them whether that was in a bed or in a grave. Today, they were willing to give their lives for their cause–and each other. If they went down, they’d go down together.


	3. Morning Cuddles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from anon: Some nice Thulaz? Like them relaxing and getting a chance to be all loving?

Thace liked waking up early. It meant that he got to hold Ulaz and kiss him awake, or just admire how soft and serene his face looked in his sleep. The early morning was one of the only times he and Ulaz could be together like this, and he cherished it every day.

Ulaz was curled up with all of the blankets wrapped around him like a cocoon. He was a hybrid, so he didn’t have the warm fur that a purebred Galra like Thace did, and as a result Galra facilities were always too cold for his liking. The thermostat in their suite was set to a higher temperature than Thace would usually consider comfortable, and still Ulaz could only sleep with a dozen blankets and Thace’s arms holding him. Thace didn’t mind, of course.

He traced a finger along Ulaz’s gaunt cheek. Ulaz looked so exhausted. He had stayed up late again working on his scientific research. Thace had snuck into his study to check up on him, and found him dozing off at his desk, arms folded under his head atop his computer keyboard. After trying to wake him up, and finding that he was out cold, Thace had picked him up and carried him to bed. He had tucked him in under the blankets the way he liked and then fallen asleep next to him. Thace didn’t mind taking care of Ulaz, but he wished his mate would be kinder to himself.

Ulaz stirred in his blanket cocoon. Thace pulled him closer, and Ulaz sleepily nuzzled his face into the soft fur on Thace’s neck. Thace kissed the top of his head and nudged him awake. Once he completely woke up, Ulaz’s eyes snapped open and he jolted back from Thace.

“I used the wrong equation!” Ulaz blurted.

“What?” Thace said.

“The models—why didn’t I—” Ulaz rambled. He crawled to the edge of the bed and tried to stand up, but since the blankets were still tangled around his legs, what happened was more of a flop. If it hadn’t been for Thace’s arms around his waist, he would have fallen face first on the floor. “Thace, please. I need to get back to work.”

“No you don’t,” Thace said, spooning him against his chest and trailing kisses along the back of his neck. Ulaz sighed reluctantly as his head fell back against the pillow. “You’re exhausted. At least stay in bed a little longer.”

“But it’s important!” Ulaz protested weakly.

“More important than this?” Thace laid a hand on Ulaz’s shoulder and turned him over to face him. He rubbed his fingers behind Ulaz’s ear, along his jawline, and down his neck to his collarbone, all sensitive spots on a Galra. Ulaz let out an involuntary purr, which he tried to swallow down, but Thace could still feel the vibration in his throat and chest. Thace smirked triumphantly.

He tilted Ulaz’s chin up with his fingertip and kissed him. Even when he was being stubborn, Ulaz couldn’t resist kissing back, gently nipping with his teeth and sliding his pointed tongue into Thace’s mouth. That drew a purr from Thace as well, low and satisfied as he slowly pulled back.

“Mm, I suppose not,” Ulaz hummed, and kissed him again.


	4. Welcome Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from anon: Oh you write Thulaz so good! Maybe a matching one with Ulaz taking care of Thace?

Ulaz was reading a book on Galra medicine when Thace shuffled into the room and flopped down on the couch next to him. He slumped against Ulaz’s shoulder.

“You should be resting,” Ulaz said, kissing Thace’s temple. Thace had just come back from a grueling mission with the Galra, and they hadn’t given him any time to recover, instead sending him immediately back to his regular duties. Ulaz had to make sure he rested in the time he had at home. Not that he set a very good example himself, staying up late with his studies.

“But I missed you,” Thace whimpered.

Ulaz placed his hand on Thace’s cheek and gave him a peck on the lips. “I missed you too.” He slid his arm around Thace’s shoulders and gently pulled him down to lie in his lap. Thace willingly collapsed and sprawled out on the couch like he had suddenly turned to liquid. Ulaz patted his head, and Thace pressed his head into Ulaz’s palm.

Ulaz set his book down on the arm of the couch to occupy both of his hands with scratching Thace’s ears and running his fingers through the lush fur. The touch was like a drug to Thace. It worked every time to make him feel better. Ulaz even won arguments with it; a carefully placed claw to the ear was enough to instantly melt Thace’s resolve. Ulaz smiled and huffed a small laugh thinking of that. In his lap, Thace purred blissfully.

Thace nuzzled his face into Ulaz’s stomach and clutched the hem of his crimson sweater, one of many gifts Thace had given Ulaz to keep him warm. “I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have you to come back to,” Thace murmured.

“You don’t have to worry about that,” Ulaz reassured him. That statement had an unspoken second part: But I do. Ulaz was relatively safe working in the medical ward. Thace was always in danger, of being caught, of being wounded on the front lines, of being torn away from Ulaz. While Thace was away, Ulaz couldn’t sleep, tearing himself to pieces with the worry that he wouldn’t come back. Ulaz trusted him to be smart enough to stay safe, but he always had the foreboding sense that someday, he would be the one left behind.

So he would love Thace with all his heart and tell him everything would be okay until that day came.

Thace’s soft breathing and the slow rise and fall of his chest indicated that he had fallen asleep. Ulaz wanted to get up and get a blanket for Thace, and one for himself, but he couldn’t move when there was a sleeping Thace in his lap. They were sleeping on the couch, then. Ulaz leaned his head back against the cushions and closed his eyes. He kept stroking Thace’s ears until the motion lulled him to sleep as well, and they both got some much needed rest.


	5. Moon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from anon: Thulaz with the word prompt 'moon' perhaps?

The Blade of Marmora was an enigma even to its own members sometimes. They had the most advanced cloaking technology in the universe, and yet the officials still insisted that the only way to infiltrate Zarkon’s ships undetected was in the smallest craft possible. So that was how on his first mission, Thace had ended up in a repurposed escape pod, with barely one seat to himself, next to the masked pilot who had not shut up about artificial limbs for the past four vargas. 

“All I’m saying is–and this is just my cover, I don’t really care about any of this, you know that, right?–but there’s so much untapped potential there, for surveillance purposes, for quintessence manipulation–”

The stream of scientific jargon was interrupted by the ship jostling and veering to the side. “What was that?” Thace asked.

The pilot checked the readings on the control panel. “We’ve been hit!” he yelled in alarm. “There!” He pointed out the windshield to a Galra drone that was just leaving their field of vision.  
“Do you think they know who we are?” Thace asked, voice low with concern.

“No. We’re in Galra controlled space, so they’re probably just programmed to shoot down any unidentified craft,” the pilot said confidently. 

“Very reassuring,” Thace mocked. “How is that going to help us now that we actually got shot down?”

“We will be fine. I can pilot us to that moon,” the other agent insisted.

“No you can’t. We lost the engine! The best you can do is crash land us on that moon,” Thace argued. 

Thace hated to say I told you so.

The engine, which had been sputtering since the blast, exploded just as they neared the moon’s surface, sending the pod into a double flip and bouncing it off the ground upside down. It would have looked like a cool trick to anyone but the two Galra inside it, who were holding on for dear life. Finally the ship skidded to a stop on its side. Thace had braced himself against the ceiling and managed to avoid any serious injuries, but the pilot didn’t seem to have been as lucky, hanging limp in his restraints. 

Thace unclipped his own restraints and crawled across the seat. He knew he wasn’t supposed to do this, but the other agent looked badly hurt and he didn’t know any other way to help him. He pressed the button to remove his mask. 

The mask dissolved, and Thace paused to catch his breath. Not because of the clearly unconscious expression or the bleeding wound on his forehead, but because he was so strikingly attractive, with the razor sharp cheekbones of a conventionally handsome Galra and pale lavender skin the likes of which he’d never seen before. His pointed ears perked out a moment after the mask came off, and Thace resisted the urge to touch them. That was not what he should be thinking about in this situation at all, he scolded himself. Thace removed his own mask to wipe the sweat from his forehead, which had appeared there due to stress and perhaps other reasons. 

He quickly shook himself out of his distraction and reached for a compartment in the ceiling that held a breathing mask. He affixed it to the pilot’s nose and mouth, and then searched the cabin for some gauze to press against the wound on his head. After that, he panicked, unable to think of any other way to help him. If he had been the one who got knocked out, he trusted that the other agent would know what to do. He seemed to know a lot about medicine, after all. Thace’s area of study had always been more focused on military strategy, and while that was useful for many things, first aid was not one of them. All he could do now was wait, and try to keep himself from staring at the pilot’s pretty face in case he woke up and caught him.

He was just wondering which of his ears Kolivan would rip off for letting a fellow agent die on his first mission when said agent opened his yellow eyes. The first thing he saw was Thace smiling at him and saying with a flood of relief, “You’re okay!”

“I think I have a concussion, but yes,” the pilot rasped through the breathing mask. It was hard to see, but it looked like he was smiling too as he said softly, “You saved me.” 

Thace’s heart jumped into his throat. “I, uh… you’re welcome. I’m going to call for help now, yeah, should have done that a long time ago,” he stammered.

Thace called central command while the injured agent rested. When Thace signed off the communicator, the other had taken off the breathing mask, revealing all of his stunning face once again. “They said they’ll come and get us in a quintant,” Thace relayed to him.

“I suppose we’ll have some time to get to know each other, then,” he said. “Since we’ve already seen each other’s faces, I might as well tell you my name. I’m Ulaz.” 

Ulaz had just crash landed on a moon, been concussed, and found out he would be stranded there for a long while, and his first thought was about getting to know Thace? Thace’s mouth forgot how to form words. “I’m Thace,” he managed to get out.

“Hello, Thace. It will be good to know my ally once we start our undercover mission in the Galra Empire,” Ulaz said. “Since we’re going to be stuck here for a quintant, may I finish telling you about my theory?”


	6. Distraction

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from revasnaslan: distracting kiss + thulaz pls :3c

Their feet were braced against the mat, their arms locked around each other in an aggressive sort of embrace. Thace and Ulaz’s wrestling matches could go on for an hour, they were so evenly matched. Ulaz’s slightly taller frame used to give him an advantage, but Thace was quick to discover his weaknesses, and now when Ulaz tried to make a move to shove him over, Thace countered it and Ulaz almost lost his footing. He glanced down to his feet for a second and then back up to lock eyes with Thace. Thace raised one eyebrow and grinned. He’d noticed the slip and was now confident in his victory, which irritated Ulaz.

Ulaz closed the small space between their faces and planted a kiss on Thace’s smirking lips. The soft touch of lips was a contrast to the strain in their muscles, and Thace was caught off guard by it, tensing up and then melting into Ulaz. As soon as Ulaz felt Thace’s shoulders relax, he tackled him onto the mat and pinned him. Thace stared up at him, startled, still in a daze.

“I win,” Ulaz gloated.

Thace was still breathless from the sparring match and the kiss. “What did you win?” Thace sighed, tired but amused.

“Maybe another kiss?” Ulaz suggested, and Thace happily obliged.


	7. Temptation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from allthelettersandlights: Hesitant Kiss prompt for Thulaz, our sweet soft boys

Ulaz strode down the dark, quiet hallway. A pair of gleaming yellow eyes watched him from the other end of the corridor, waiting. The shadow approached and Ulaz met him under the ultraviolet glow of the Galra ship’s lights. They stepped into an alcove where the security cameras couldn’t detect them unless they were at a precise angle, which only happened once every two minutes.

Thace leaned close to Ulaz so that the surveillance couldn’t pick up his words. His breath drifted hot across Ulaz’s face. “Here is the information you requested. Destroy it by midnight,” Thace whispered, and pressed a flash drive into Ulaz’s hand. His fingers brushed against Ulaz’s palm as he did so, and Ulaz’s heart fluttered. It was the first intimate touch either of them had felt for months. The Galra empire didn’t tolerate such distractions.

Thace made a move to pull away, but Ulaz grabbed his arm and gave him an imploring look. Without words, he had to convey that the temptation of standing so close to him was too great to bear.

“We shouldn’t,” Thace said, but by the way his breath hitched, Ulaz could tell he was desperate for it too.

They stood there for another moment, bodies pressed together and mere inches between their lips, before they gave in. Thace touched his lips to Ulaz’s, and Ulaz responded with his teeth and tongue, pulling Thace in for an electrifying kiss that would hold them over until their next encounter.

Then, too soon, Thace pushed him away. “Be safe, love,” he whispered, and turned on his heel and went back the way he came.

Ulaz knew he should feel satisfied with that, but as he watched Thace walk away, he just felt frustrated. How could he give him a taste that only left him wanting so much more?


	8. Remain Calm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from listening-to-the-rain: Could you please write the Quick Work kiss for Thulaz?

“Did you lock down all the gates?”

“Yes,” Ulaz replied to Thace before he picked up the microphone on the control panel and said over the intercom, “Please remain calm and make your way to the lower hangars for evacuation. This is not a drill. We are under attack.”

Somehow, the Galra had found the Blade of Marmora’s headquarters. They bombarded it with fighters until one of them happened upon the path between the star and the black hole, and now the Blade was facing a full-scale Galra invasion. Their pride wanted to stay and fight, but practicality demanded an evacuation. They simply didn’t have the numbers to win this battle. Zarkon had already sacrificed countless lives just to find the route to the base, and he would send even more now that he had them in his grasp.

Thace and Ulaz were locked inside the control room, Thace operating the base’s defense systems while Ulaz led the evacuation over the intercom that broadcasted to the Blade’s masks. His deep voice was good at keeping people calm in a crisis. Thace spared an admiring glance at him before returning his gaze to the screens. 

The door behind them slid open with a hydraulic whoosh and heavy footsteps thundered in. Thace and Ulaz whirled around with their blades out, then lowered them when they saw that it was Kolivan, staggering under the weight of Antok’s body hoisted over his shoulder. He kneeled down and laid Antok on the floor, catching his breath. Thace and Ulaz just stared, glancing from Antok to Kolivan to each other in astonishment, trying to make sense of the situation. 

“He’s alive, but gravely injured,” Kolivan panted. He pulled back a fold of Antok’s uniform to reveal several glowing purple gashes across his chest, the kind that could only be made by a druid’s energy blast. The Galra really were sending in everything they had to destroy them.

“I’ll do what I can,” Ulaz said immediately, grabbing a first aid kit from under the control panel and rushing over to Kolivan and Antok.

“Thace,” Kolivan called him over. “I need you to take his place and lead the evacuation with me on the ground.”

Thace protested, “But someone needs to stay here and man the controls—”

“I can do both,” Ulaz insisted. “I’ll take care of Antok and the operations. You do what you need to do.”

Thace stared at him for a desperate moment before resolve hardened his expression and he nodded. 

Ulaz grabbed Thace by the collar and pulled him close, and urgently pressed his lips against Thace’s. It was only a quick, chaste peck; they didn’t have time for a proper last goodbye, and they both hoped it wouldn’t be one. “Please come back to me,” Ulaz whispered.

“I will,” Thace promised. “You too.” 

Thace raised his mask and ran out the door with Kolivan. Ulaz watched them sprint down the hallway until the door closed behind them, then kneeled beside Antok and began cleaning his wounds.


	9. Reassurance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from Empersian1234: Thulaz Prompt: Reacting to the other one crying about something. Because I need more feels in my life I guess.

Ulaz stepped into the dark locker room, wiping sweat from his forehead with a towel. The base was in its night cycle and the motion-sensing lights were deactivated, but that didn’t stop Ulaz from sneaking down to the training deck. He had only one week until his Trial. Sleep could wait until after he had passed it. Despite what his trainers said, he still didn’t feel ready for it, and he _had_ to make it into the Blade of Marmora. If he didn’t, he didn’t know where else he would go.

Ulaz’s ears perked up when he heard a sound coming from one of the far corridors. It sounded like a Galra whimpering. Ulaz followed the noise past the rows and rows of lockers. The sound grew louder as he approached the source of it, and then, presumably after the other Galra heard his footsteps, stopped altogether. Ulaz slowed down and softened his footfalls while he glanced down every aisle. Then, when he reached the one in the back of the room, he spotted a dark shape sitting on the bench, golden eyes staring back at him. Ulaz flicked on the light switch to reveal his training partner, Thace, sitting there with his hands clasped over his mouth and tears brimming in his eyes.

Thace jumped and nearly fell off the bench. “Ulaz?! What are you doing here?”

“Training,” Ulaz said calmly. “I could ask the same of you.” 

“Uh… Same,” Thace lied.

“Uh-huh,” Ulaz said, unconvinced. “Because it sounded to me like you were crying.”

Thace’s expression looked like that of a trapped animal for a moment before his eyes widened with inspiration, another stupid lie popping into his head. “Uh, yeah… That’s because… I sprained my ankle,” Thace claimed, with a fake wince. 

Ulaz took two steps toward him and kneeled on the floor in front of Thace. Thace leaned back as far as he could from him and averted his eyes as Ulaz examined his ankle. “I’ve been in the medical track for two days and I can tell you didn’t,” Ulaz pronounced. “What’s really going on, Thace?”

Ulaz pinned him with an expectant gaze. Thace frowned and stared stubbornly past Ulaz at the lockers, before he turned his head to look at Ulaz and his ears drooped. “I’m just scared. Trials are in a week and I don’t think I’m ready,” Thace said, hugging his arms to his chest. “Not that _you_ would know anything about that,” he added with a hiss.

“Of course I do,” Ulaz said. “Why do you think I’m up in the middle of the night training? I’m getting in as much cramming as I can because I’m not ready either.”

“But you’re the top of the class. _You’re_ only going to make them set the test harder for the rest of us,” Thace groaned. His shoulders started to shake as he said that, and though he was clearly trying to hold them back, tears broke from his eyes again. “I’m not ready to die,” he sobbed. 

Ulaz felt like he’d just been thrown out of an airlock. Thace, the cute initiate who always let him sit at his table at lunch and gave him support when he needed it, was crying in front of him, silently asking him to do the same. Ulaz wanted to help him—it pained him to see Thace so upset—but he hadn’t the slightest clue how to do it.

He tried stating facts. “You are not going to die. The trainers said they stop the trial if you fall unconscious.” _And then you automatically fail, all memories of the Blade of Marmora are wiped from your brain, and you are cast adrift on some colony planet._ Avoiding that fate was all that had been on Ulaz’s mind during his fervent training sessions, but bringing that up didn’t seem like the best way to comfort Thace. 

“Well then. Let’s say I survive, I pass my trial. Then I’ll be risking my life in a war that’s heavily stacked against us, and one of those days, I’m going to die.” Thace drew in a shuddering breath. “I don’t wanna die, Ulaz…” He might have said more, but he had lapsed into incomprehensible sobs. 

Ulaz had to admit that Thace was right, the Blades of Marmora had nothing in common if not a death wish. Ulaz didn’t know what to say in this kind of emotionally tense situation. So he just pushed himself up onto the bench beside Thace and wrapped his arms around him. 

Thace’s sobbing quieted and his posture tensed up, like he had turned to stone. Then, he buried his face in Ulaz’s neck and cried harder, his arms like a vice grip around Ulaz’s waist and his hands tangled in Ulaz’s ponytail. Ulaz could feel Thace’s tears soaking through his already sweat-dampened uniform. It was the first time he had hugged Thace, he realized. Thace was warm and soft and Ulaz wished he could experience it under better circumstances. When Thace’s crying had given way to heavy breaths, Ulaz patted him on the back and released him. Thace sniffled and wiped his eyes. 

“You’re going to be fine, Thace,” Ulaz assured him with a small smile. “Would a sparring match help take your mind off it?”

Thace returned the smile and a slight chuckle. “While the chance to kick your ass is tempting,” Thace teased, “I think we would both feel better if we got some sleep.”

“You’re just making excuses because you know I’d be the one kicking your ass,” Ulaz retorted. Then he let out an involuntary yawn, which earned a hearty laugh from Thace. It was a relief to hear after he had been bawling his eyes out moments ago, and the sound made Ulaz’s heart beat a little faster. “Sleep sounds good too, now that you mention it.”


	10. Reckless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from anon: Umm... Hi! -////- Are you still taking Thulaz prompts? If you are, could you write one where Ulaz gets in trouble and Thace has to come save him? Usually I read fanfics that are the other way around but I wanna see Thace be the knight rescuing his damsel in distress (Ulaz). Hope you read this!

Thace was barricaded in the loading dock of the Galra base. Shortly after being dropped off there, their scans had revealed that it was more heavily guarded than they anticipated and infiltration would be impossible. Their pick-up was scheduled to arrive momentarily and Ulaz was nowhere to be found. Thace reached up to his earpiece communicator. “Ulaz! You were supposed to be at the extraction point five doboshes ago! Where are you?”

He waited for a tense moment before Ulaz’s reply came in, his voice almost drowned out by the sounds of combat. “Thace! I need backup!”

“You went in by yourself?! You’re too reckless,” Thace muttered, more to himself than to Ulaz. “Come back immediately. We’re aborting the mission.”

“But I’m almost to the control center,” Ulaz said, his heavy breathing audible even over the communicator. Thace heard the crunch of metal as Ulaz impaled a sentry on his blade. “If we don’t get that data, then—” Ulaz’s argument was cut off by a shriek of pain.

“Ulaz? Ulaz, what happened? Are you alright?” Thace yelled desperately. He was only answered by empty static. 

Thace allowed himself a flutter of hope when the signal buzzed in his ears again, but it wasn’t Ulaz. It was Kolivan. “We are in position to retrieve you. What’s your status?”

Thace let out a heavy sigh. “Going after Ulaz,” he grumbled. 

He heard Kolivan choke on his breath. “Thace, listen to me. They know we’re here. We can’t afford to wait—”

“You’re going to have to. Either that or leave us both stranded here. I’m not leaving without him,” Thace insisted. “Sorry, Kolivan,” he added as he pressed the button to deactivate his communicator.

After he hung up on Kolivan, Thace turned the device back on again and ran to the deck where Ulaz’s communicator had last pinged him. Sentries lay strewn upon the floor, their mechanical entrails bleeding out of stab wounds. There were at least a dozen of them, enough to overwhelm even Ulaz. Thace picked his way across the carnage, and his heart sank when he found Ulaz’s earpiece shattered on the floor, next to a trail of blood. 

Cursing under his breath, Thace sprinted down the hallway along the trail. He stopped in his tracks when he saw Ulaz, bleeding from his right arm and thigh, being dragged away from him by the arms by two sentries. A feral, protective snarl leapt in Thace’s throat, but he fought to keep his footsteps silent as he crept up behind them. He couldn’t tell since Ulaz had his mask on, but it seemed that Ulaz was unconscious, as he didn’t notice Thace’s approach. Thace stabbed the two sentries in the back, then crouched down and caught Ulaz before the sentries dropped him.

Now Ulaz was awake. “Thace?” He coughed, and it sounded like an attempted laugh. “Now who’s the reckless one?”

“Still you,” Thace said fondly. “You bring it out in me, is all.”

Thace heard the clatter of sentries’ footsteps down the adjacent hallway. He grabbed the blaster from one of the sentries on the floor and shot them down one by one as they rounded the corner. Ulaz looked up at him with his head tilted in admiration. 

“Let’s go,” Thace said to Ulaz.

He offered his hand to Ulaz and pulled him up. When Ulaz tried to put weight on his injured leg, however, he yelped and doubled over. “I’m fine, I can make it,” he wheezed.

“No time for that,” Thace said. He moved his hands behind Ulaz’s knees and back and swept Ulaz up into his arms, and took off running. Thace usually wasn’t strong enough to hold Ulaz like this for more than a few ticks for novelty, but adrenaline could do incredible things. 

“Thanks for saving me,” Ulaz said, wrapping his good arm around Thace’s shoulders and clinging to him tight. 

“It’s not like I have a choice when you go running into danger all the time,” Thace retorted. He nudged the top of Ulaz’s head with his chin and added, “You’re welcome.”


	11. Like No One's Listening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from revasnaslan: ♦ + ♢ (Slow dancing + Cheek/Forehead Kisses) for Thulaz pls :3

“You’re looking lonely over here. Care for a dance?” Ulaz asked smoothly, striding up to Thace and offering him his hand. 

Thace, who had been sitting on a bench in the back of the crowded ballroom with his eyes on the floor, looked up and greeted his lover with a brief smile. “Hey, Ulaz,” he said. “ I would, but I’m not a very good dancer. I don’t like dances much at all, really…”

“When you’re dancing with me, it’ll come naturally,” Ulaz said. He took Thace’s hands in his and pulled him up, and led him to a spot on the dance floor near the corner, where no one would be watching them. 

Ulaz placed his hand on Thace’s waist, and Thace laid his hand on top of Ulaz’s shoulder. With his other hand, Ulaz took hold of Thace’s, intertwined their fingers, and held their hands up at shoulder height. “It’s easy,” Ulaz insisted. “Just take two steps forward, then two steps back.” Ulaz pulled Thace with him as he stepped back, then forward, and Thace mirrored his movements. “Got it?” Ulaz asked. Thace nodded, staring intently at Ulaz’s feet, too focused to speak. 

Ulaz pulled Thace towards him while he stepped back, and Thace followed him. Then Ulaz took a step forward—and so did Thace, bumping into Ulaz and stepping on his toe. “Oops, sorry,” Thace muttered. “I told you, I’m bad at this…”

“No, it’s okay,” Ulaz reassured him, holding back a wince at the pain in his toe. “We don’t have to do the footwork. We can just… here.” He dropped their clasped hands and put his other hand on Thace’s waist, and pulled him close enough for Thace to rest his head on Ulaz’s shoulder. Thace still seemed tense and embarrassed about his dancing, but with a few strokes of Ulaz’s hand up and down his back, he was purring and relaxing into the embrace. 

The song changed to something slower. Ulaz recognized it as a traditional Galra song, one from before the Empire began. Classical music wasn’t popular in the colony where he was raised, but he had heard this particular song playing in the corridors of the Blade base every now and then. The rebels against the Empire liked to keep their ancient heritage alive. 

Ulaz swayed his hips to the rhythm. Thace moved with him, shifting his weight back and forth on his feet. Ulaz was familiar with the song, but he didn’t know the lyrics—until Thace started singing along under his breath.

Ulaz felt his fur prickle on the back of his neck, enraptured by Thace’s singing. His voice had a warm, husky timbre that contrasted with the synthetic voice on the recording, and he still hit every note flawlessly. Ulaz drifted into a lovestruck daze listening to it at first, and then he noticed the lyrics. 

It was a song about love at first sight. The narrator of the song was in love with a scientist, enamored with her passion for knowledge just as much as her beauty. Was that how Thace saw him? He could hear the emotion in Thace’s voice, like he meant every word. Ulaz’s heart swelled with affection for Thace and he held him closer. 

The song faded into silence before the next one played. “That was beautiful,” Ulaz whispered to Thace, kissing him on the forehead.

Thace looked at the floor in embarrassment. “What, you heard that?”

“You were singing right in my ear,” Ulaz reminded him. He deflated a little bit as he asked, “Was it not meant for me to hear?”

“It’s fine,” Thace said quickly. “It’s more that I grew up with that song, so I sing along to it to calm myself down. You didn’t mind it?”

“Of course I don’t mind,” said Ulaz, smiling. “I loved it.” 

“Well… I know this song too,” Thace told him. “Do you mind if I…” Thace realized that was unnecessary, and launched right into singing the lyrics. He was less shy this time, singing at a normal volume that made it much clearer to hear the inflection in his voice, and staring straight into Ulaz’s eyes as he did so. A passerby might have been able to hear, but Thace wasn’t embarrassed, and neither was Ulaz. This moment was only for them.


	12. Bad Decisions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from Guardianofsillvennium: Okay, sending you this prompt: Thace or Ulaz get locked out of their living quarters (forgot their keys) and they have to find another way in (which they do) but they either get beaned on the head or almost get beaned on the head by their significant other, thinking there was an intruder. Aftercare fluff please! (Still hoping to read BoM vs Keith - Bath time edition.)
> 
> I won’t be writing the bath time fic because it makes me uncomfortable, but I hope this will suffice!
> 
> Galra College AU

Thace awoke from a light sleep. Ulaz was nestled against his back, breathing deeply. It felt peaceful, but something was amiss… Thace needed to go to the bathroom. He must have had too much tea at dinner, he figured. 

Carefully, Thace lifted Ulaz’s arm off of him and slipped out of the bed. He softly padded over to the door and crept out of the room, and down the hall to the bathroom. It was only after he had done his business and returned to his door that he realized that in his drowsy haze, he had forgotten to bring his key. He tried the knob just in case he had left it ajar, but no luck. He patted the pockets of his sweatpants, but he could picture his keys hanging on the hook next to the door where he had left them, mocking him. Thace thought that as a senior, he would stop making such careless mistakes, but he had always been a bit clumsy and forgetful. 

He rapped his knuckles lightly on the door. “Ulaz?” he whispered. He wanted to get his attention, but at the same time, he didn’t want to wake Ulaz, or anyone else in the hall. Apparently he had done a good job of quietly sneaking out without waking Ulaz, because there was no answer. 

Thace was leaning with his back against the door and cursing himself for being so stupid when an idea popped into his head. Their room was on the first floor. It was a hot night, so they had cracked the window open when they went to sleep. If he could get outside, he might be able to climb back in through the window. 

As Thace walked down the hall to the back door, he considered the risk he was taking. Without his keys, he wouldn’t be able to get back inside the dorm either. He had one shot to make this plan work, or else he would be stuck outside all night.

Thace stepped out the door and immediately regretted his decision. The air was so hot and humid that it stuck his fur together in clumps. Thace shuffled across the damp lawn to the window of his room. He could tell it was theirs by the glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling. Thace smiled for a moment. He was so close to making it home.

He reached his arms into the opening of the window and shoved the window pane the rest of the way up. Once the space was just barely big enough for him to fit through, he planted his hands on the windowsill, placed his feet on a large rock to get better elevation, and then jumped and vaulted himself into the room. 

It didn’t work quite as planned. He miscalculated the size of the opening and banged his head on the window pane, and he landed right on top of Ulaz’s desk, knocking Ulaz’s pens and textbooks onto the floor before tumbling to the ground himself. Thace rubbed his head, and barely got a chance to regain his bearings and crawl onto his hands and knees before he heard movement in the room. A shadow loomed over him, and another heavy object connected with his forehead.

“Ow! Ulaz! It’s me!” Thace cried out. He reached up to turn on the light, revealing Ulaz standing over him with a textbook in his hands, poised for another strike.

“Thace?” said Ulaz. “Oh no, Thace, I’m sorry!” He crouched down and cradled Thace’s head in his hands, examining him. Ulaz got up and went to the mini freezer to get an ice pack, and handed it to Thace, who took it gratefully and pressed it against his forehead. “What happened?” Ulaz asked, concern heavy in his voice.

“I had to go to the bathroom, but I forgot my keys,” Thace admitted. That alone was embarrassing enough to make Thace cringe, and he still had to finish the story. “So I decided to go outside and climb in through the window.”

“Thace. That was a pretty dumb idea,” Ulaz chided. “You can always wake me up if you need help. I don’t mind.”

“I suppose that would have been better than you trying to bludgeon me,” Thace muttered wryly.

“I’m so sorry, Thace,” said Ulaz. “I’ve just been so nervous, there have been break-ins around here, and I was already worried about leaving the window open…” 

“Shh. It’s okay. You don’t have to apologize,” Thace assured him. “And if anyone ever tries to break in, I’ll protect you.”

“As long as you’re not the one breaking in, I’ll accept that,” Ulaz chuckled. “Come on, let’s go back to bed.”

Ulaz slid his arms under Thace’s shoulders and helped him up, and supported him as they walked back to the bed. Thace lay down on his back, holding the ice pack to his forehead. Ulaz went over to turn off the light, and then settled in next to Thace. He carded his fingers lightly through Thace’s hair. The ache in his head already fading, Thace began to drift off for the rest of the uninterrupted, tranquil night.


	13. Told You So

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from anon: thulaz + dry?
> 
> Dry: one character drying the other off with a towel after a shower , bath , swimming , etc .

Ulaz climbed out of the water onto the rocks, shivering, with his arms clasped around his chest. “Thace, I’m cold,” he muttered through chattering teeth. 

“I never told you to listen to Antok when he said to jump into the ocean,” Thace replied, perched on top of a rock in a patch of sunlight. The Olkarion coast was actually quite pleasant when one was dressed for the weather and not diving into frigid water. 

“I don’t know how he does it,” Ulaz agreed. He glanced over his shoulder at the larger Galra, who was still splashing around happily in the water as if he wasn’t affected by the chill.

“I warned you it would be too cold for you,” Thace teased.

“Yes, yes, I know. You told me so. Now hurry up and help me,” Ulaz retorted.

Thace got up from the rock and walked over to Ulaz, carrying his bag. He pulled out a soft towel and wrapped it around Ulaz’s shoulders, rubbing it over the short silky fur on his arms and back, and Ulaz burrowed into it gratefully. Thace left the first towel draped over him, and Ulaz pulled it tightly around himself while Thace grabbed a second towel to dry his head. He scrubbed it around to fluff up Ulaz’s crest, and then wrapped it around his head like a hat. Thace gave Ulaz a rub behind his ears while he dried him off, and Ulaz purred at the attention.

“All better?” Thace asked.

“Yes, I’m fine,” Ulaz said, though his teeth were still chattering. He just didn’t want to admit that he was still cold.

“Aww, silly Ulaz. Come here, let me warm you up,” Thace cooed, enfolding Ulaz in his arms. Ulaz pouted, but he still leaned closer to Thace’s body to absorb the warmth. Thace nuzzled against his cheek. “I’ll go get Antok, and we can leave soon and get you warmed up. We can go get ice cream after.”

A shudder went through Ulaz’s body at the mention of ice cream.

Thace chuckled. “You’re right, it is too cold for ice cream. Hot tea?”

Ulaz smiled and gave an appreciative nod.


	14. Not Like Myself

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from mageswolf: For the prompts- comfort, ulaz to thace? :) [ comfort ] one character pulling the other into a reassuring hug 
> 
> I thought, what if Thace survived the explosion, but Haggar did something to him similar to Project Kuron? I decided to play around with that idea.

Everyone thought that Thace died in the explosion that shut down the Galra central command ship. Ulaz was devastated. But it turned out that the reality was even worse: Thace had survived the explosion, but been captured by Haggar and endured unthinkable torture at the witch’s hands. He returned to the Blade of Marmora headquarters with a cybernetic replacement for the arm he lost in the explosion, and a head full of memories that woke him up screaming in the middle of the night. Ulaz did everything he could to comfort him, and let him know that he didn’t have to talk about what happened if it would be too painful to relive it, that he was just glad to have him back. But something was off about Thace that Ulaz couldn’t quite explain.

Late one night, Ulaz was wandering the halls of the base aimlessly. He didn’t think of it as looking for Thace, since Thace didn’t need anyone to watch after him, but it was unusual that his mate hadn’t come back to their room yet. Thace used to be the one who went to bed early, and even now when he was afraid to fall asleep sometimes, he would usually stay up with Ulaz, taking comfort in his presence. 

Ulaz passed by the door of a server room when he spotted Thace, staring at the screen. He had opened a map to an auxiliary Blade of Marmora base. Thace certainly had the clearance to be looking at that, but _why_ he would care about it was beyond Ulaz, since they were both stationed permanently at headquarters now. 

Ulaz reached out and placed his hand on Thace’s shoulder. Thace jumped at the contact and turned around. “What are you doing up so late?” Ulaz asked, his voice laced with concern.

“I was… I don’t remember,” Thace confessed. He glanced back at the screen to try to jog his memory. “I don’t even remember getting here. The past varga is all a blur.”

“It’s okay, Thace,” Ulaz reassured him. He wrapped his arms around Thace’s waist, holding him close. Thace froze for a moment as if he was startled by the affection. His hands gingerly found their place on Ulaz’s back, first his organic one and then his metal one, which he was always so hesitant to use as if it could betray him at any moment. While Thace was holding him, Ulaz surreptitiously reached behind his back and closed the screen. 

Suddenly, Thace’s body relaxed and he slumped against Ulaz, nuzzling his face into Ulaz’s neck. He let out a quiet sob. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s come over me lately…”

“You’re going to be okay, Thace,” Ulaz murmured. He rubbed his nose against Thace’s temple as a comforting gesture, and Thace let out a soft purr in response. “We’ll get through this together.”


	15. Ours

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tears for that prompt meme :3 [ tears ] one character wiping away the other’s tears
> 
> Dads of Marmora AU (Keith is Thace & Ulaz's biological child)

Ulaz rushed into Thace’s hospital room. He had been working a 20-hour shift at his own post in the emergency room when Thace went into labor. He hadn’t been there for any of it, and he hadn’t even had a chance to see his newborn son yet…

When Ulaz opened the door, his breath caught in his throat and he almost cried. Thace was sitting in the bed, calm, smiling, with his eyes and ears pointed attentively towards the bundle in his arms. He almost didn’t notice Ulaz walk in until Ulaz approached him and announced himself. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t come sooner,” Ulaz whispered, careful to keep his voice down so as not to wake the baby. 

“It’s alright, you couldn’t help that you had to work,” Thace replied, although there was a note of sadness in his voice. He had missed Ulaz.

“How did it go?” Ulaz asked.

“How do you think?” Thace retorted with a smirk. “I felt like I was going to die. But it was worth it.” 

Ulaz felt guilty that Thace had to go through that alone. Still, he had to agree with Thace that it was worth it. He peeked down at the baby’s face sticking out of the blanket. He had the same lavender complexion and pointy ears covered in fur as Thace. His inky black hair, reflecting purple in the light, was a trait all his own. 

“Hi, Keith,” Ulaz whispered. That was the name they had agreed upon when Thace was pregnant. Ulaz trailed his finger lightly over the cub’s face, and he squeaked and woke up, immediately grabbing onto Ulaz’s finger with his tiny hands. Ulaz let out a soft gasp. “He’s… he’s so beautiful…” he murmured, tears welling up in his eyes.

Thace lifted his hand up to cradle Ulaz’s face. He ran his thumb along Ulaz’s cheek and wiped away his tears. Then, he slid his hand around the back of Ulaz’s head to pull him close and bump their foreheads together. 

“He is,” Thace agreed. “And he’s ours.”


	16. New Baby

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from meteorysh: Accidentally falling asleep together +/or One character playing with the other's hair with Thulaz, please __(:3
> 
> Dads of Marmora AU (Keith is Thace & Ulaz's biological child)

Thace hadn’t slept in three days since they brought their newborn, Keith, home from the hospital. Right now, Thace was sitting on the couch next to Ulaz, nearly dozing off and falling over on his side while he held Keith in his lap. The baby’s eyes were still closed, and he was clutching Thace’s finger and squeaking. 

“You should get some rest, love,” Ulaz insisted. “I can watch him for a few minutes.”

“No, I need to give him his bath,” Thace murmured, exhaustion slurring his words. His eyelids drooped closed every other moment before he shook himself awake. “And then I need to…”

Thace trailed off when Ulaz placed his hand on top of his head and started scratching his ears. A low, satisfied purr built in Thace’s chest, and he leaned into Ulaz, nuzzling his head up against Ulaz’s palm. When Ulaz rubbed Thace’s ears, Thace was like putty in his hands. It was easy for Ulaz to take Keith from his arms and then press Thace’s head down into his lap. Thace snuggled against Ulaz’s thigh and went out like a light, his body sprawled out over the couch.

Keith squeaked to get Ulaz’s attention. He still needed his bath, and Ulaz had to keep him quiet so that he wouldn’t wake Thace. Ulaz picked Keith up in his hands and started licking over his mop of black hair and his pointy ears that took after Thace. The grooming made him drowsy, and Keith yawned. Ulaz cradled him in his arms and rocked him back and forth until Keith fell asleep. 

Ulaz was supposed to stay awake to keep an eye on Keith. He had promised Thace, and that was the only way he could get Thace to take a break from his constant watch, after all. Thace needed the rest more than he did. But with both of the loves of his life sleeping peacefully beside him, Ulaz couldn’t help but feel the temptation of sleep pulling him in, too. He blinked, and only meant to close his eyes for a second, before he found himself slumping back against the couch and dozing off.


	17. Miss You Already

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from meteorysh: 5. Can’t Let Go Yet Kiss or 9. Distracting Kiss for Thulaz, please :3c

Thace awoke with a jolt. Grumbling, he dragged his body up and reached over to silence the alarm, then proceeded to sink back into the bed next to Ulaz. Usually, he had no problem waking up before the alarm, and turning it off so that it wouldn’t disturb Ulaz. But this morning, with Ulaz snuggled in his arms for what would be the last time for several rotations, it was no surprise that he hadn’t. 

Thace begrudgingly moved his arms from around Ulaz and sat up. Ulaz stirred when he felt Thace’s absence, and reached over to grab Thace around the waist and pull him back down onto the bed. “Don’t go,” Ulaz pleaded, his voice deep and husky from sleep.

“I have to, Ulaz…” Thace whined. He didn’t like it any more than Ulaz did. He loved how cuddly Ulaz got when he was sleepy, and he wanted to savor it. “I have an early departure today.”

That only made Ulaz whimper and tug him closer. Ulaz gave him a peck on the cheek, and Thace turned his head to meet Ulaz’s lips for a brief moment before he was wrestling to get up again. He pried Ulaz’s arms off of him, and he had almost made it when Ulaz captured his lips in another kiss. When Thace’s body relaxed into him, Ulaz wrapped his arms around him again. Thace finally resorted to rolling off the bed, his momentum breaking Ulaz’s hold just before he landed on the floor with a thump.

Ulaz burst into laughter, sitting up to look at Thace sprawled on the floor. “Are you alright?” he asked.

Thace just snorted in response, pushing himself to his feet. He walked over to the closet and started pulling on his undersuit.

He had just started to fasten his chest plate when Ulaz wrapped his arms around his waist and nuzzled against his neck. The fur on the back of Thace’s neck prickled as Ulaz’s cool breath fanned across it. Warmth settled in the pit of Thace’s stomach. “Ulaz, I need to finish getting dressed,” Thace scolded.

“I know. Don’t let me stop you,” Ulaz retorted. “I just want to hold you for as long as I can before you go.”

Ulaz could be such a smooth talker sometimes. Thace leaned back into Ulaz’s embrace while he fumbled to put on his armor. Ulaz wasn’t going to make himself of any use, since he didn’t want Thace to leave. 

Once Thace finished getting dressed, Ulaz spun him around in his arms and planted a kiss on Thace’s forehead. “Be safe out there, my love,” he whispered.

“You know I will, don’t worry,” Thace replied.

“I’ll worry anyway until you come back to me,” said Ulaz. Thace leaned up and gave him a sympathetic nuzzle with his nose. Then, he reluctantly broke away from the embrace. His hand trailed down Ulaz’s arm, and intertwined his fingers with Ulaz’s before he stepped toward the door. 

Ulaz tugged him closer for one more kiss. His hand reached up to cradle Thace’s face, and Thace leaned into the touch. Thace indulged in it for as long as he could before the threat of Kolivan chewing him out for being late urged him to move. 

“I’ll be home soon,” Thace said, his voice softened with affection. His fingers slipped out of Ulaz’s, and he walked out the door, smiling over his shoulder at Ulaz until the door slid shut.


	18. By a Hair

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from Revasnaslan: stroking hair, Thace to Ulaz (also thanks to Revasnaslan for the phrase "Hall of the Fallen" for a BOM cemetery.) (Don't worry about the mention of a cemetery, this is comedy!)

No sooner had Ulaz stepped through the door of his quarters than Thace greeted him with a scream of astonishment. “What did you do to your hair?!” Thace asked, scandalized.

Ulaz ran his hand over his head, touching the short hair of his crest. It took him a moment to remember that he had cut his hair while he was on his mission. 

“I cut it. So?” Ulaz said flatly. 

“I barely recognized you!” Thace cawed. “Your—your long, beautiful hair, it’s gone! We need to make a plaque for it in the Hall of the Fallen!” Ulaz assumed Thace was joking, but the tone of his voice was eerily serious. 

Ulaz pressed his hand to his forehead. “Don’t you think you’re being a little dramatic? Hair is dead. You’re mourning something that was already dead,” he said.

“I’m not mourning the hair, I’m mourning your dashing good looks with it,” Thace quipped. 

Ulaz lowered his head and combed his fingers through his hair bashfully. “You mean you don’t think I look attractive without it?” 

“No, no, no, that’s not what I meant,” Thace stammered. He rushed over to Ulaz and enfolded him in his arms. “Of course I think you look good no matter what.” He nuzzled Ulaz’s cheek, and Ulaz let out a purr at all the attention he was suddenly getting. 

“It’s just that you knew I liked the hair, and I thought you liked it too, since you worked so hard to grow it out for decaphoebs,” said Thace. “Why did you suddenly decide to cut it?”

“You’re going to think I’m an idiot,” Ulaz sighed.

“I promise I won’t think that,” said Thace.

“Fine.” Ulaz huffed. “I got my hair caught in a door on the mission, so I had to cut it off with my blade to escape.”

Ulaz was startled by Thace’s reaction, which was to squeeze him so tightly that Ulaz’s back cracked, and bury his face in Ulaz’s chest. “Thank the stars you made it,” he said. “Kolivan didn’t mind you leaving your hair behind like that? I mean, it could be traced—”

“The ship we infiltrated was a trap. It exploded five ticks after we left. So there was no chance I would have made it out with my hair intact, and no chance they could track me using my hair,” Ulaz explained nonchalantly.

“Oh, Ulaz. I didn’t know that mission was so dangerous. Here I was fussing over your hair, when I almost lost you…” Thace sniffled, like he had barely held himself back from crying, and then looked up at Ulaz with earnest eyes. “I’m sorry, dear.” 

Thace reached up his hand to stroke Ulaz’s crest. Thace’s fingers brushing through the short hair felt more relaxing than when he would run them through the long mane, then get them tangled in it and have to pick apart the knots with his claws. Ulaz’s purr deepened with the soothing sensation.

“So you don’t mind that I cut my hair?” Ulaz said with a chuckle.

“Of course not!” said Thace. “You made it home safely, and that’s all that matters.”


	19. Give You the Stars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from Revasnaslan: Thulaz + "Don't you dare open your eyes."
> 
> hee :3 i hope you like this, i did ~worldbuilding~ for once in my life. have I ever brought up my "Thace is named after Thayserix" headcanon before? well, here it is.
> 
> and with that my Thulaz ficlet compilation reaches 10k!!! woooooo!!!

"Don't you dare open your eyes," said Ulaz.

“I can’t see anything anyway,” Thace snorted. Ulaz’s hands were clasped over his eyes, his chest warm against Thace’s back as he guided Thace into their quarters. “Besides, you get me the same thing every year, it’s hardly a surprise at this point…”

“I think this year you will be pleasantly surprised,” Ulaz assured him. Thace breathed deeply through his nose, savoring the tangy scent of the slibfish casserole that Ulaz always made for him on their anniversary. Ulaz was cute, thinking it was a surprise. Thace didn’t mind it. He wasn’t much for surprises, anyway, since they tended to put him on edge…

“You can look now,” Ulaz said, lowering his hands from Thace’s eyes to rest them on Thace’s hips and pull him closer. Thace opened his eyes and gasped.

The little table in their room was decorated for a fancy dinner, with a red tablecloth, purple quintessence candles, and two plates of the slibfish casserole that Thace had smelled. It was the same as always, except for the centerpiece: a strange glowing cube. Ulaz pulled a remote out of his pocket and pressed a button, and the cube projected a landscape of stars onto the ceiling. They weren’t just any stars; when Thace looked more closely, he recognized them as the pattern of stars from his home—an auxiliary base hidden in the hostile terrain of Thayserix where the children of the Blade were raised. 

Thace was named after the planet, since his parents loved their home. His parents had come to say that his name was unfitting, a boy with such a warm heart named after an unforgiving wasteland, so they had nicknamed him Thace. When Thace came of age and transferred to the main base for training, he hoped that he would get to return, at least to make sure they were safe. 

Thace hadn’t seen the place for many decaphoebs, and probably wouldn’t for many more, since his missions kept him too busy to visit his parents. But the projection of light took him back so vividly to his childhood that it brought tears to his eyes. 

“Ulaz, it’s beautiful,” Thace murmured. He turned around in Ulaz’s arms to nuzzle his cheek. 

“Surprise,” Ulaz said, with that playful smirk that made Thace’s heart flutter. “Happy anniversary, my dear.”


	20. We Survived

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from anon: Thulaz- “Could you please stop giggling and just go to sleep already?”

“Could you please stop giggling and just go to sleep already?” Ulaz groaned, folding a pillow around his ears.

Thace tried to suppress his hysterical laughter for long enough to speak. “I just can’t believe that you flooded the mess hall with food goo,” he stammered before he burst out laughing again. 

“I didn’t do it for the comedy. I had to create a distraction so that we could escape,” Ulaz said dryly. They had just returned from a dangerous mission, and Thace was probably going on close to forty vargas without sleep, so Ulaz had to forgive him for being a little out of his mind.

“I know. Without you, we wouldn’t have made it out alive. And I couldn’t be happier…” Thace’s fingers brushed under Ulaz’s chin and tilted his head towards him. His eyes gleamed with tears of mirth and sincerity. He was smiling, that radiant smile that Ulaz felt like he hadn’t seen in far too long. When Thace pulled him into his arms and nuzzled his neck, Ulaz couldn’t help but laugh too.


	21. The Fall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from monidon: Ooo can I request thulaz decorating the house together or Thace and tiny Keef playing in the leaves?

“Does it still look crooked?” Ulaz called out, holding up the string of orange lights along the eaves of their house. He had been standing on top of a ladder for the past half hour, trying to get it to look perfect. It was Keith’s first Halloween on Earth with Thace and Ulaz, and they wanted to do their best to follow the traditions, to make up for the years he’d missed while he was on the Marmora base. 

“Maybe move it up a little?” Thace suggested, watching Ulaz from the ground.

“But you just told me to move it down,” Ulaz groaned. “Now I’m going to have to redo the ones over the door.” He balanced himself on one leg, leaning over the edge of the ladder and reaching for the strand of lights.

“Wait!” yelled Thace. “Get down and move the ladder, you dolt.”

“That’s going to take too much time if I have to keep moving it back and forth,” said Ulaz.

“I don’t want you getting hurt,” Thace said.

“I’ll be fine,” Ulaz insisted. “Just help Keith rake the leaves so that we can put the zombies up in the yard next. We don’t have much time before sunset.”

Thace sighed at his mate’s stubbornness, and turned and walked back across the yard. The adult-Galra-sized rake was too big for Keith, so he was picking up leaves from the ground and putting them in the pile one by one. 

“Look at you,” Thace said, giving Keith a nod of approval. “You’re doing such a good job here. Mind if I give you a hand?” He reached down and patted Keith on the head. Keith beamed up at him, and Thace’s heart fluttered. He picked up the rake, and began to shuffle the leaves into a pile. 

Keith kept picking up leaves and throwing them in the pile while Thace raked, and in a few minutes the yard was mostly clean. “All done,” said Keith, but there was a note of disappointment in his voice. He had been enjoying the task, and Thace knew he would quickly get bored and pouty if he didn’t find something else to entertain him.

“Hey, Keith, you want to try something fun?” Thace whispered, cupping his hand around his mouth as if he were telling a secret. Keith leaned in and listened, then nodded, his eyes gleaming bright with mischief. He walked over to the other side of the yard, then ran back and took a flying leap into the pile of leaves. The leaves flew up and caught in the wind, scattering over the yard again, but Thace didn’t mind that some of their work was undone. He flopped down on his back into the cushy pile of leaves beside Keith, listening to the melodic sound of his young son’s laughter.

“What are you two doing over there?” called Ulaz, who had heard the sound of crackling leaves and looked over his shoulder to investigate. Thace sat up, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes, and was about to reply to Ulaz as soon as he caught his breath. 

Suddenly, Ulaz lost his balance. His hand tried to grab onto the string of lights for support, but that didn’t help, and he and the ladder toppled to the ground, pulling half of the assembly of lights along with them. 

“Ulaz!” Thace screamed, and dashed over to him. He was quick to kneel down beside him and pull him into his arms. “Ulaz, are you alright?” 

Ulaz groaned, rubbing his head. “Yeah. I’ve survived worse,” he grumbled. 

“What did I tell you about moving the ladder?” Thace said, with the faintest hint of a fond smile on his lips, though his tone was still stern.

“Fine. You were right, is that what you want to hear?” Ulaz sighed. He ran his hand through the leaves on the ground. “It’s a good thing you didn’t rake over here yet. The leaves cushioned my fall.” 

“I’m just glad you’re okay,” said Thace, leaning down to press a kiss to Ulaz’s forehead. Even in his grumpy mood, which probably wasn’t helped by the bruises that were forming from landing on the ground, Ulaz couldn’t help but smile at that. 

Keith appeared at Thace’s side, having just made his way across the large yard. “Laz jump in leaf pile too?” Keith asked, though the worried way he chewed on his lip said that he knew it might be something more serious.

Keith looked like he was about to cry, and Thace wasn’t sure what to do other than pull Keith into a hug. It was Ulaz who took Keith’s hand and said, “Yes, Keith. You and Thace were having so much fun playing in the leaves that I had to try it too.”

Keith smiled as Ulaz leaned up to nuzzle him on the nose.


End file.
